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Becoming, Part One
|guests = * Seth Green as Oz * James Marsters as Spike * Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers * Julie Benz as Darla * Bianca Lawson as Kendra Young * Jack McGee as Doug Perren * Richard Riehle as Merrick * Juliet Landau as Drusilla * Max Perlich as Whistler * Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder * James G. MacDonald as Detective Stein * Shannon Welles as Gypsy Woman * Zito Kazann as Gypsy Man * Ginger Williams as Girl * Nina Gervitz as Teacher * Susan Leslie as First Cop * Thomas G. Waites as Second Cop |music = "Full of Grace" by Sarah McLachlan |season_list = |prev = Go Fish |next = Becoming, Part Two | episode_list = List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes | season_article = Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 2) }} "Becoming, Part One" is the twenty-first episode of season two of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the thirty-third episode in the series. It was written and directed by Joss Whedon. It was originally broadcast May 12, 1998. Synopsis The episode is narrated by an enigmatic demon named Whistler, who talks about how in every life there are turning points where certain moments help to determine your life's course, with some moments being simple, subtle ones. Key events in Angel's past are interlaced with current events in Sunnydale. Galway, Ireland 1753: Liam, the man who will become Angelus, is kicked out of a tavern along with his friend because they have run out of money. The friend slumps in the snowy road while a drunken, unsuspecting Liam is lured into an alley by a beautiful blonde. The mysterious blond woman is Darla, who bites the man and thus sires Angelus. Sunnydale, 1998: Buffy Summers tries to send a war message to Angelus via a vampire, who refuses to do the chore. She stakes him as Angelus watches from afar. The next day, Giles visits a museum that has just discovered a big stone block. The man in charge, Doug Perren, agrees to wait for Giles to examine it, and Giles discovers an opening in the rock. Meanwhile, Willow offers to help Buffy study for the chemistry final. London, 1860: Drusilla is a young Catholic girl who enters a confessional booth just as Angelus kills the actual priest. She tells the "priest", who is Angel, about her unwanted visions, such as one of a cave-in at a mine that had happened that morning. He derides her as a devil child before finally agreeing to let her go with ten Our Fathers and an Act of Contrition. Sunnydale, 1998: At Angelus' manison, Drusilla lets Angelus know what she and Spike read in the paper about the museum's new discovery. They decide to pay a visit to the curator. Meanwhile, Buffy is struggling with Willow's lesson when her pencil slips to the floor beside the floppy disk Ms. Calendar had dropped beside the teacher's desk. Willow pops the disk into the computer and they are shocked when they realize the content—unbeknownst to them, Jenny had just translated the document telling how to curse Angel, and saved it on the disk. Romanian woods, 1898: The body of a young Romani girl lies on a table next to a fire as an elderly woman recites a curse before an Orb of Thesulah. Angelus runs through the woods towards the camp. The woman completes the ritual and Angelus, now Angel, falls to the ground. His eyes glow and his soul is restored. A Romani elder emerges beside Angel, rejoices over Angel's suffering, and predicts that Angel will soon remember and feel remorse for every vile act he has committed over the previous hundred years. Sunnydale, 1998: Giles explains that the ritual requires much knowledge about magic, but Willow is undeterred. Xander believes that Angelus should die for his crimes and upsets Giles with his comments about Ms. Calendar. Xander thinks Buffy is selfish. She leaves to clear her head and encounters fellow Slayer Kendra, who has returned with information that a dark power is about to rise in Sunnydale. At the same time, Drusilla kills the curator while Angelus and his minions steal the statue. Angelus returns to tell Spike the story of Acathla, a demon that came to suck the world into Hell. A virtuous knight stabbed him in the heart before he could draw a breath, but someone worthy can remove the sword to awaken Acathla. Angelus wants to make history end. Kendra has brought a sword blessed by the same knight who stopped Acathla. Manhattan, New York 1996: A dirty Angel stumbles aimlessly through the streets, looking like a homeless man, and ends up in an alley lined with trash where he attempts to kill a rat for food. A good demon, Whistler, appears out of the darkness and asks for a chance to show him something so he can make a choice about whether he wants to change. Los Angeles, 1996: A Chevrolet Impala stops in front of Hemery High, and Angel rolls down the window just enough to catch a glimpse of a young Buffy exiting with three friends. She appears to be vain, vacuous, and definitely spoiled. Then a Watcher finds her, shocking her with a tale about her destiny fighting vampires. He then observes her in a cemetery staking her first vampire rather clumsily. Angel watches as she goes home, where her father yells at her for being gone without telling them where she was going. Her mother seems a bit more understanding. After watching the whole ordeal, Angel decides that he wants "to be somebody" and help Buffy. Sunnydale, 1998: Angelus kills a human, spreads blood on his palm, then recites an incantation in Latin, and tries to pull out the sword unsuccessfully. Spike is amused, but Drusilla is not. Angelus decides to pay a visit to an old friend to find out what he should do to complete the ritual. The next day, Buffy and Willow are taking an exam when a vampire walks to the front of the classroom and self-immolates, telling Buffy as she is killed by sunlight that she must meet Angelus. The Scoobies fight about whether or not they should perform the restoration spell. Xander wants Angel killed, but Buffy wants him to be restored, though she has accepted she might have to kill him. Buffy asks Willow to perform the restoration as a safety measure and asks Kendra to stay behind to protect her friends. Willow says it will take around a half of an hour to perform the spell, so Buffy should fight to delay Angel to give them time to complete the spell. Buffy finds Angelus at the cemetery and they start fighting. However, Angel has used the same ploy he used before, diverting Buffy while a group of vampires attack her vulnerable friends. Willow is knocked out and trapped under some fallen bookshelves, and Xander ends up unconscious on the upper level. Cordelia is the only one able to escape. Drusilla enters and hypnotizes Kendra before slitting her neck. She falls to the ground, motionless. Drusilla says they should take what they came for, and leave. At that, the vampires drag away an unconscious Giles as Buffy bursts into the school. She rushes to the Library, finds Kendra's body, and takes her hand. She reaches to Kendra's face with her other hand and strokes it gently. As Buffy mourns her fellow Slayer, a police officer appears and tells her to freeze. Continuity *This episode includes first significant flashback sequences, showing the history of certain characters. *This is Darla's first appearance since her death in the episode "Angel." *When Liam is sired by Darla, it marks the first siring on camera. *Angelus' torment of Drusilla before her siring is shown. *The details surrounding Angel's siring are further expounded upon in the Angel episode "The Prodigal". *Spike is shown to finally be fully healed from his ordeal in the church, now able to walk and with his face rid of any wounds. *Buffy is revealed to have shared many personality traits with Cordelia before she became the Slayer. In a later episode, Buffy remarks that one of the only things that make her grateful about becoming the Slayer is that it made her a better person. Cordelia will feel similarly about herself after coming into the Visions. *When Giles reveals he has an Orb of Thesulah, he mentions that he's been using it as a paperweight. This is a reference to the episode "Passion", in which the magic shop owner tells Jenny that he usually sold the relics to tourists as New-Age paperweights. *When Willow proposes to try to perform the spell, Giles warns her that she may be opening a door that can't be easily closed. He's right—the discovery of Ms. Calendar's floppy disk sets Willow on a path of magic. She begins practicing seriously in season three, and grows steadily more powerful as the series progresses. Her magic becomes an important plot device in later seasons, particularly season six. Willow ultimately grows so powerful she is able to turn all Potential Slayers into fully-empowered Slayers in the final episode. *Giles' concerns about Willow tapping into the deeper magicks will prove well-founded in Season 6. *Drusilla kills Kendra in a manner reminiscent to the way The Master kills Buffy: by hypnotizing her. *Buffy and Xander's fight about whether or not Angelus should be killed for his crimes is much like the one they'll have about Anya in Season 7's "Selfless", only the roles are reversed. *Whistler says that there are moments in a person's life that affect the whole path their life will take, even though they might not know it. This episode features several such moments: **Liam agrees to Darla's offer to show him the world, leading to his existence as a vampire. **Angel sees Buffy for the first time, marking the beginning of their deeply intertwined fates. This would also set in motion that predestined "evolution" that they were supposed to complete in "Twilight" and "The Hero of His Own Story". **Buffy accompanies Merrick and kills her first vampire, thus losing her innocence and taking on the mantle of the Slayer. **Willow's casting of the Restoration spell is her first step on the path to becoming a powerful, powerful witch. **Angelus sets out to free Acathla, sealing his fate. **Spike allies himself with Buffy in order to leave with Drusilla, resulting in their breakup and his eventual integration into the Scoobies and ascension to a Champion. *This episode marks the second time a Vampire is killed by immolation in sunlight—the first being the Anointed One in "School Hard"—but the first one shown on-screen. *This episode specifically reveals that Angel became a Vampire two hundred an forty-five years prior to this episode, and received his soul one hundred years prior. *This episode introduces the concept of benevolent balancing demons in the form of Whistler. *In a flashback, we see that Buffy misses the heart the first time she tries to stake a vampire. Buffy also tells Merrick she "Meant to pay for that lipstick" when asking him if he is from Bullock's, further linking her to Dawn. In "All The Way" Dawn tells Justin she "hasn't paid for lipstick since...forever." *Whistler jokingly says Buffy was "prettier than the last one"; the Master said the same thing about her when first meeting in "Nightmares". *Kendra's death leads to the calling of Faith Lehane who will play a major role in the show the next season, and recurs in seasons 4 and 7. Faith appears on Angel as well. *When Buffy realizes that Angelus has lured her away from the library so that Giles can be captured, he gleefully points out that "she falls for it every single time." This is a reference to the season's first episode, "When She Was Bad", in which Buffy followed a deceptive lead, allowing Willow and Giles to be kidnapped for the Master's restoration. *In this episode, a vampire burns up in indirect sunlight. In future episodes of this show and its spin-off, Angel, stronger and more direct sunlight becomes necessary for killing a vampire. Angel and Spike often survive in rooms that are more well lit than the one in this episode. They are also both able to drive cars and vehicles (conveniently screened) in plain daylight. The vampire may be newly "sired," however, and thus comparatively weak to the "older" Spike and Angel. Body Count *Three vampires, dusted by Buffy (only mentioned) *Two vampires, dusted by Buffy *Angel, sired by Darla *unidentified priest, killed by Angelus *Kalderash girl, drained by Angelus *Old man, drained by Drusilla (only mentioned) *Doug Perren, drained by Drusilla *Unidentified man, sacrificed by Angelus *Vampire, killed herself while sending a message in daylight *Vampire, dusted by Kendra *Kendra, throat slit by Drusilla Appearances Locations * Galway, Ireland (1753 in flashbacks) * Sunnydale, California * London, UK (1860 in flashbacks) * Manhattan, New York City (1996 in flashbacks) * Los Angeles, CA (1996 in flashbacks) * Woods of Romania (1898 in flashbacks) Behind the Scenes Deleted Scenes *This line was cut for length:Golden, Christopher, and Nancy Holder. The Watcher's Guide, Vol. 1. New York: Pocket Books, 1998. :Whistler: "There are three kinds of people that no one understands: geniuses, madmen, and guys that mumble." Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors *Cordelia mispronounces emu. *This episode makes it appear as though Angel had been living on the streets ever since his ensoulment. However, it's made clear in Angel that this is not the case. *In the 1996 flashback, the reflection of Angel's hand on the steering wheel can be seen in the side mirror. *When Buffy sees the text of the ritual she asks if it says restoration but it clearly doesn't. Also, the translated text doesn't match the spell used in "Becoming, Part Two" or "Orpheus". *At the museum, Giles asks Doug Perren if they've carbon dated the stele, however the stele is made of stone and stone cannot be directly carbon dated. It is likely Giles meant carbon dating the particulates surrounding the stele, although this can be an unreliable measurement of the true age of something. International Titels *'French:' Acathla - partie 1 (Acathla - part 1) *'German:' Wendepunkte (Turning Points) *'Brazilian' Portuguese: ''Metamorfose - Primeira Parte (''Metamorphosis - First Part) Music *Christophe Beck - "As Angel Becomes" *Christophe Beck - "Cursed" *Christophe Beck - "Devil's Child" *Christophe Beck - "Massacre" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Score) *Christophe Beck - "Show Me Your World" Other *This episode is included in The Best of Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD. Quotes References Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 2) episodes Category:1998 American television episodes Category:Television episodes directed by Joss Whedon Category:Television episodes written by Joss Whedon Category:American television episodes in multiple parts